Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Christianity According to Anne

The Huffington Post reports that bestselling novelist and Christian Anne Rice made a surprising announcing on Facebook Wednesday, renouncing institutional Christianity. Rice, who authored the bestseller "Interview with the Vampire" before coming to faith, often talked about her Roman Catholic faith online. The author has also recently launched a new series of novels about angels, which debuted in October 2009 with "Angel Time." On Wednesday, Rice said she is still "an outsider" in the Christian community. She wrote, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life." She later said she "remain[s] committed to Christ as always."

Kent comments:

Amusing, isn’t it, how a good writer can cast a position in negative terms by stating it as “anti-“ something. I’m not a good writer like the Interview with the Vampire author here. (Is anyone else yet sick of all this never-ending ‘vampire’ garbage?) But let me try it with some of the list above, but with a different slant:

I refuse to be anti-life. I refuse to be anti-family. I refuse to be anti-liberty. I refuse to be anti-religion. I refuse to be anti-creation.

But sometimes is it important to be “anti” some things. For example, don’t you feel a little better in the company of people who are anti-Nazi? How about anti-murder? Doesn’t anti-theft sound nice to you?

Of course, if you are a famous writer, you are allowed simply to envision Christianity to be whatever you want it to be, and then claim to be part of it no matter what you believe or how you behave. Heaven forbid that anyone, especially famous people, would need to repent.

As for "leaving Christianity," one should be reminded that no individual gets to make the rules, anymore than he (or she) can decide gravity is a bad idea that can't be lived with. God made the world and He made us. He gets to set the boundaries for human behavior, not because He wants to deny us pleasure, but because He is holy and desires us to be holy, as well. It is in sensing God's pleasure with us that we achieve the highest state of contentment (as opposed to happiness which is like a sugar rush and never lasts). Furthermore, God knows what is best for us. Using our bodies to please ourselves is a form of idolatry and a sign of rebellion against the creator of our bodies.

True enough, Cal – unless you are a famous writer. Then, like one of your vampire novels, you can re-write Christianity in any way you please. At least that’s what Anne Rice seems to think.